1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a manufacture method or production method of an ink-jet head for forming an image by ejecting a small liquid drop to a printing face.
2. Description of Related Art
There is a conventionally known general constitution of an ink-jet head in which a plurality of pressure chambers are formed, a nozzle is opened in correspondence with each of the pressure chambers and each nozzle is connected to one end of a corresponding pressure chamber.
According to the constitution, ink from an ink supply source (for example, ink tank) is temporarily supplied to a common ink chamber and thereafter distributed from the common ink chamber to the plurality of pressure chambers. Further, by selectively applying pressure to each of the pressure chambers by an actuator, ink is ejected from the nozzle in correspondence with the pressure chamber to thereby form an image on a printing face.
This ink-jet head is generally formed by adhering pluralities of sheets of thin flat plates made of a metal or the like in a lamination structure. The pressure chamber and the common ink chamber are formed by etching the metal plates.
Here, there is also known a constitution in which a filter is provided at a supply passage of ink connecting the common ink chamber and the ink tank (ink supply source) or an ink flow passage between the common ink chamber and the pressure chamber to thereby remove dust and dirt or an impurity before the ink reaches the pressure chamber or the nozzle so that the nozzle or the pressure chamber will not be closed by dust and dirt.
There is also known a constitution in which a flow path control means having a constitution of narrowing a sectional area of the flow passage is provided between the common ink chamber and the pressure chamber for controlling an amount of ink supplied to the pressure chamber when ejecting ink to thereby obviate an excessively large or small ink ejecting amount
Here, in recent years, by needs of high resolution formation of ink-jet recording, miniaturization and high integration of the ink-jet head structure are progressed and under the situation, it is highly requested to be able to simply fabricate an ink-jet head having the above-described filter inside.
It is an object of the invention to provide a method of fabricating an ink-jet head capable of simplifying fabricating steps.
In order to achieve the above-described object, this invention proposes a manufacture method for an ink-jet head including a nozzle for ejecting ink, an ink passage connecting the nozzle and an ink supply source, and a plurality of flat plates formed with the ink passage inside in a laminated structure, including at least following (A) to (H) steps of:
(A) forming a first photosensitive resin layer on one side of a metal flat plate;
(B) forming a second photosensitive resin layer on the other side of the metal flat plate;
(C) selectively exposing the first photosensitive resin layer by using a mask formed with a pattern in correspondence with a first passage constituting a portion of the ink passage;
(D) removing an exposed portion or an unexposed portion of the first photosensitive resin layer;
(E) forming the first passage by etching the metal flat plate to form a shape in correspondence with a removed portion of the first photosensitive resin layer;
(F) selectively exposing the second photosensitive resin layer by using a mask formed with a pattern in correspondence with a second passage constituting a portion of the ink passage and a filter;
(G) forming the second passage connected to the first passage and the filter by removing an exposed portion or an unexposed portion of the second photosensitive resin layer; and
(H) laminating the flat plate processed by the steps of (A) through (G) onto the other flat plates.
Thereby, the second photosensitive resin layer can be formed with the filter and the second passage connected to the first passage formed on the flat plate. Therefore, in comparison with a constitution of forming the filter by a separate member or forming the filter and the second passage on the other flat plates, a constitution of parts can be simplified and a number of fabricating steps can be reduced.